Time
by Jadeturtle
Summary: S.P.R. receives a case from E.A.P, or otherwise known as England's Association of Psychology.  Mai's life is put in the balance when her power of Astro projecting becomes uncontrollable. How will the world of Ghost hunt and the world of Psychology collide. Not part of Trilogy
1. Chapter 1

_Authors note: Hello, I am updating my story which I posted two years ago (First posting: April, 7th 2011) I want to thank you for taking the time to read my story._

I, IN _NO_ WAY, OWN GHOST HUNT! YOU GOT THAT… I AM CLAIMING NO OWNERSHIP AT ALL! THE ONLY THING I OWN IS THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS.

AGAIN, I DO NOT OWN GHOST HUNT… SO WHOEVER IS SENDING THE FBI AFTER ME… PLEASE STOP.

**~Chapter one~**

Time was ticking by slowly. Way to slowly for Mai's taste. Then again she thought closing her eyes, time also went by quickly. Why was time like that? It made it difficult to know what to want. Mai could remember how as a child she wanted to grow up quickly. That was at a time when her parents were still… still alive. Now that she was older, she realized that she wished she could go back to when she was a child. No, she thought, to the time when her parents were still around. How could things change so quickly in just a few years? Would anything be different if she could change what happened in the past?

"No! I can't think like that… I have my new family now, Ayako, Takigawa, Lin, John, Yasuhara, and Masako." Mai blushed. "I wonder if Naru sees himself as part of my family. If he did, what would he be to me?" The blush that grew on her face grew even more vibrant then before. Slapping her face with her hands, she shook her head to clear her mind.

"I need to make Naru his tea. It's been at least ten minutes since I gave him his last cup. He has to be close to calling for more."

"Mai, Tea!" came the sound of her bosses voice.

"Speak of the devil."

Standing quickly, Mai made her way to the kitchen that Naru had recently upgraded. Mai was completely ecstatic about the upgraded equipment that Naru had bought. The day that the kitchen had been finished, Mai had spent the entire day in there. Naru had to drag her out of the room mentioning that if she wanted to continue standing in a kitchen, she should do so at her own home and not on his time. Mai had of course made a big stink out of his comment, but in the end, she left. Something about the room reminded her of her mom. She remembered all the recipes that her mother taught her to make. However, many of the tea's she made came from her dad. He had apparently learned how to make tea from his grandmother. Mai's great grandmother had apparently owned a tea shop in Kyoto. Mai had never had the chance to see it, and for some reason, there were never any pictures.

Mai turned off the stove as the tea kettle had signaled that the water was now boiled. Mai finished adding the ingredients for the tea and brought it over to Naru's room. Typically, Mai would knock on the door to signal that she had come with his tea. Lately however, she decided that if she was never going to receive a thank you from her narcissistic boss, she would not bother with common courtesies, i.e. knocking so that said boss would know that she was entering. Because she no longer knocked, Mai had found that she was learning a lot more about her boss than she had learned since she first arrived at the office.

Mai had come to find that she was very interested in what Naru did while he was in his office. Bringing him tea just meant that she would have the chance to observe him. Sometimes, when she walked in, she would find him reading a book that was the size of an almanac, while at other times, he would be shifting through papers and graphs. The thing that was always the same was the deep blue eyes which examined the pages of the book, or his dark black hair in which every now and then would be brushed back by his large strong hands. Every time Mai found herself describing her boss with those (blush) descriptive words, she would reprimand herself and get out of the office as quickly as she could.

At this exact moment, Mai found Naru was busy marking papers, for what reason, Mai did not know. His expression was very intense though as he looked from one paper to the next as though checking for errors. Mai wondered if he even noticed that she was there. She now found her-self day dreaming, wondering what else there was that she did not know about her boss. What did he like to eat? What type of music did he like, if any? Was there more to him then what met the eye? There had to be. She had found out two years ago that Naru was _'the'_ Oliver Davis, not to mention the fact that he had a twin brother named Eugene Davis who had been visiting her in her dreams every single case they went on. Mai remembered with some regret that she had mistakenly thought that Eugene was Naru. If she had just realized her mistake sooner, then maybe, just maybe, things would be different. For one thing, what happened at the lake would have never happened.

"Mai…" Naru's voice pulled her out of her inner thoughts. When did he finally notice she was there?

"Um…Yes?" Mai asked hesitantly. It was rare for him to actually say anything.

"If you're done staring absently into space, I believe the client would appreciate you letting them in, unless, that is, you're too incompetent to walk over and answer the door." Naru placed his papers on his desk and walked over to Mai who was standing like a deer in the head lights. He slowly grabbed the tea tray from her hands, mentally smirking at her flustered look. Naru knew that Mai was easy to fluster that he did his best to make her so as much as possible. For Naru, the reason for why he flustered her was so that he could observe the changes that occurred on a young girls face due to rapid emotion flares. At least, that's what _he_ told himself Naru smoothly walked back to his desk, taking a calm sip of tea as he did so.

"Sorry!"

Mai quickly rushed out Naru's door leaving it cracked open. She had not noticed that someone had knocked on the front, main door. She placed a mental note to remember not to be caught dazing off like that next time she entered his room. This however was a losing battle.

Naru sighed and walked back to where Mai had just left in order to close the door. It was quite enjoyable to fluster Mai, but whenever he did so, he seemed to end up with more work than necessary. He was about to shut the door when he paused in order to listen to what Mai was saying to the client. Mai was aggressively apologizing over and over again. Naru let a small smirk cross his face. He was beginning to shut the door again when what the client said caused his interest to peek.

"No need to worry, I'm Just glad that you're here. I'm from E.A.P., otherwise known as England's Association of Psychology. My name is Dr. Anderson Clark, head psychologist at one of the main branches. I am here to ask for you and your bosses help." Dr. Clark finished with his hand held out.

"I'm sorry, I think I have misunderstood… did you say England?" Mai asked dumbfounded.

"Yes Mai, I do believe he said England. I'm very proud that you were able to deduce this piece of information." Naru said, stepping in front of Mai and taking a hold of Dr. Clark's hand.

"Ah, you're the great and famous Dr. Oliver Davis I've heard so much about. I hope you will tell me much about your research." Dr. Clark smiled at Naru with a wide Cheshire grin.

"And I hope that you will enlighten me as to why a person such as yourself has decided to grace my office with a visit. Especially after that _brilliant_ speech of yours as to why Psychology is more proficient and or, more in the 'real life' as you say. I believe the term you used for my field of business was… 'Fairy tale hanging on the edge of insanity' wasn't it." Naru asked with his patented calm face. Mai wondered how Naru could keep such a calm face, especially when what he was saying sounded so accusatory.

"Ah, well… It looks like I'll have to eat my words won't I. That is, if you agree to help me out. You see, the psychology facility that I run seems to be having quite a few… problems as of late, and it's not the pipes breaking or the generator shutting down… No, this seems to be quite a bit more serious Mr. Davis." Dr. Clark's voice hinted at a dark secret entrenching his facility.

"How about we sit down, you may be accustomed to standing all day long but I tend to do my meetings in a more formal way." Naru turned to Mai and before he could say anything Mai beat him to the punch.

"Yes, I know, Tea right, I'm right on it your majesty. Oh, and I'll go and get Lin for you as well." Mai skipped off; happy for once that she was able to cut Naru off.

"Lin, we have a client from England in the meeting room. I'm going to go and get tea now." Mai smiled and then made her way towards _'her'_ kitchen to prepare the tea.

Lin smiled at the retreating girl and stood up taking his computer in hand. It was odd to have a client visit from England. In fact, it was odd to have a client arrive at their office from anywhere other than Japan. Lin wondered if Naru would even take the case. If he did, that would mean that he would have to return back to his home. He would have to see his parents again. Lin knew that Naru did not like informal meetings, especially informal meetings that dealt with his over bearing mother. Luella was… very much a mother bear when it came to her children. That tendency to over protect seemed to increase tenfold when Gene died. Lin walked into the office to see the one person from England he never expected to see.

_"Lin! It's been a while. Still living with the Davis's I see." Dr. Clark stood up and held his hand out to the tall Chinese man._

Lin was momentarily held up by the switch to English. Of course he could speak it. He had to when it came to working in England with the Davis's

_"Hello, Dr. Anderson,"_ Lin began in English and walked over to Dr. Clark and shook his hand. He then proceeded to sit down and pull out his laptop in order to type out the information.

_"The job is still available if you want it."_ Dr. Clark continued, still looking at Lin

Naru paused in sipping his tea for a moment, waiting to see what Lin would say.

_"No, I feel I am needed in S.P.R. more than I would be with your group."_ Lin replied with a very calm demeanor.

Dr. Clark nodded then loosened his tie as though it was becoming too tight.

Naru watched as Lin opened his files and began browsing the internet. He was glad that Dr. Clark had dropped the topic and that Lin had denied Dr. Clark's request for the third time. He quickly finished his tea right as Mai began to come back in from the kitchen with a new tray of tea.

Mai paused to look at the client. He had neat-messy brown hair, a very kind looking face and deep brown eyes. His clothes were nice looking but were hung loosely. He looked as though he was a very comfortable man. Someone who was both serious in what he did but good nature enough to let people deal with him however they pleased. His eyes, Mai noticed, looked as though they were processing information at an abnormal pace. It reminded Mai so much of Naru's all-knowing behavior. Mai wondered why a psychologist as smart as he seemed to be would seek their help. Mai would have been afraid that if a psychologist ever found out what she could do, they would admit her for a psych evaluation. Mai shuddered at the thought. She did not understand why but she had always feared psychologists. She remembered having to meet with one after her parents died. It was not that the psychologist was not nice and all it was just the fact that they were able to find out a lot about her. It scared her to know that her inner feelings could be read so well.

"Here's the tea…" Mai began to pass out the tea then proceeded to sit down next to Naru.

She moved away from him a little when she received a glare.

"So, Dr. Clark, could you please…" Naru was interrupted by the Dr.

Switching back to Japanese Dr. Clark let out a large grin, "You can call me Anderson. There is no need for formalities."

Mai was a little annoyed at the fact that Naru would say 'please' to a client or 'thank you' to a client but whenever it came to her it seemed as though he was allergic to the words.

"Dr. Clark, would you mind telling us specifically why you came to S.P.R. for help." Naru continued as though he did not care for the trivial 'call me Anderson' bit.

Dr. Clark looked as though he would give up on making Naru call him by anything other than Dr. Clark. "Well, as I was saying, this is far more than the normal mechanics of an old building. It started out with the lights flickering on and off. We thought that maybe one of the electrical generators had broken so we hired an electrical engineer to see if they could fix it. They never made it down to the generators. In fact, we are not sure where they made it too. We have had many officers from the police force looking for the engineer, but no one has a clue as to where he disappeared. The lights flickering are not the worst of the problems though. If it was just that, I would not have called you. I mean, if you think about it, the engineer could have just walked off somewhere and decided not to come back. But things, as I have said, have gotten worse. It started with what sounded like fingernails running down a chalk board. It happens every five hours and continues for an entire hour. We have patients in the building who can't handle the sound…"

Naru interrupted, "Just to clarify, you say that you have patients in your facility, I'm guessing that this means that the patients have a variety of mental health problems then… am I correct?"

"Yes, this is an in-care facility. We keep the patients in our care until they are mentally fit to go back into the community." Dr. Anderson replied.

"Then, how do you know that it is not one of them who have been causing the disturbances?" Naru asked calmly.

Lin had stopped typing on his computer. Mai knew that this meant that it was highly likely that they would not be taking the case. Mai was a little saddened by this due to the fact that she wanted something more to do than just sit around all day making tea, going through papers and watching the time go by. But also, if they did not take the case that would mean that she would not be going to England. She, in all honesty, was looking forward to getting out of the country for the first time.

"Well, the reasoning for that is this." Dr. Anderson held out a video tape. "We have camera's set up all over the facility. If it was not for this tape, I would never have come for your help."

Naru took the video and handed it to Lin who stood up from his computer and placed the video into the video player. Mai was glad that she had insisted on the office getting a television set. Naru had thought it would just be a waste of time. Mai turned to look at Naru and stuck her tongue out at him.

'See… told ya!' Mai thought only to be pissed off by the nonchalant look that Naru had placed on his face. 'Why I outta...'

The television which had been playing static suddenly quieted down. Mai looked at the screen where she saw what looked like a security screen. It reminded Mai a lot of the cameras that Naru would have placed around the building. The video was passing slowly through each of the cameras. Mai was able to see the inside of each and every room. She wondered if this would mean that they would not have to set up any cameras if they went. Suddenly, the sound of fingernails running down a chalk board echoed out of the television's audio system.

Mai covered her ears. It was horrible. The sound, it was not the sound of nail's running down a chalk board, it was the sound of people screaming in pain. Tears began running down her face. Her Mind felt like it was turning off, as though the only thing she could think of was the sound that was now emanating off the screen. Mai looked at the screen to see what looked like a shadow walking around the room. The shadow set up a chair and hung a rope. It tied the rope roughly around its own neck and fell off the chair. The snap of the rope was worse than Mai thought it would be. The shadows body twitched swinging violently back and forth back and forth as its feet kicked wildly beneath it…

Mai quickly jumped up out of the chair and ran to the bathroom that was located in the hallway. She began to retch furiously into the porcelain toilet.

The sound of the bathroom sink running caught half of her attention. The other half of her attention was too busy on making sure that the vomit was reaching the inside of the toilet bowl.

Mai's hair was brushed sideways and back so that she would not make a mess out of it. Soon, the heaves which had turned dry stopped, leaving Mai breathing hard. She sat back on her behind, legs folded underneath. She covered her face with her hands both from exhaustion and from the fact that the scene was still etched deeply in her mind's eye. Her palms felt cool when placed against the skin of her face.

Naru's voice echoed against the bathrooms walls.

"We will take the case."

Dr. Clark and Lin who were standing in the bathroom entrance way nodded silently. Dr. Clark walked forward handing Naru a pill.

"Give this to her, it will calm her nerves. I will set up your plane tickets and make sure that you are able to arrive at the facility. How many tickets will you need and how many rooms?"

"We will need eight tickets. Everyone on my team will be coming. As to how many rooms, we will need three rooms and a base. Please make sure that the base has the necessary plug outlets. We will be bringing equipment." Naru finished by handing Mai wad of toilet paper in order to wipe her mouth off.

"Are you sure you want to bring equipment? As you have seen, we already have cameras set up around the facility…"

Naru sighed then replied, "Our cameras are better suited for this type of situation."

"Okay, I hope to see you soon. No later than Wednesday of course." Dr. Anderson Clark bowed than left the office, leaving Mai, Naru, and Lin alone in the bathroom.

"Mai, what happened?" Naru asked finally letting her hair fall down around her face.

Mai still had her face covered with her hands, "It was horrible… the sound… they were screaming, and then the rope… how can a rope sound that sickening." Tears were still pouring out of Mai's eyes.

"Lin, go call the team and tell them that we have a case. As for you Mai, you can go home early. Make sure to pack up and take this medicine." Naru placed the pill in Mai's hand, stood up, then walked out of the bathroom. Naru wondered about the screaming that Mai spoke about. When he listened to the tape, it was exactly as Dr. Clark had said. The sound of finger nails being dragged down a chalk board.

Lin still had not moved from the door-way. Mai did not look like she would be standing up anytime soon.

"Here…" Lin held out his hand for Mai to grab onto. Mai looked up, brown eyes still tearing up. She grabbed weakly onto Lin's outstretched hand and stood up shakily.

Lin led Mai to the couch in the front room. He then left toward the kitchen and brought out a glass of water.

"Drink this slowly, and also, take the medicine. I'll drive you home so you don't have to worry about walking."

Mai nodded slowly placing the medicine in her mouth and taking small sips of the cool water. The water tasted as though it had ginger placed in it. Mai smiled slightly. Ever since the case with Kenji, ("Silent Christmas" episode), Lin had become a lot less distant from Mai and the other S.P.R. members.

Lin went to his office to begin calling the rest of the team members. Letting out a sigh, he sat down. Noll could be quite an idiot. It was obvious that Naru cared for Mai; he just did not know how to follow through with being kind.

Mai had grown on each of the team members, Lin especially. Lin had come to see Mai as a good friend. He hated to see her hurt. He hated to see anyone hurt, especially when it was his charge being the one doing the hurting. Lin had it in his mind to teach Naru a lesson. But doing so would be against his principles.

Naru was in his office with the lights turned off, the only light coming from the computer screen that he had in front of him.

'Is it a good idea to take this case? Maybe I should have Mai stay behind. She had such a strong reaction. And the reaction was to a video. What would happen if she actually walked into the place?' Naru put his head into his hands rubbing his hair as though pulling on it would bring some type of answer out and onto the surface.

Naru heard as the front door closed. He knew that Lin was taking Mai back. In fact, he was grateful that he was doing so. In reality, he wished that it was he who was bringing her home. 'I'm such an idiot…' Naru grabbed his jacket and quickly ran out of the office, making sure to lock it behind him. He raced down the stairs and made it to the outside curve only to see Lin driving off with Mai. A strange feeling made its way through Naru's chest making him feel as though he just lost something. Naru sighed. He did not feel like walking back up the steps and into the office, so he did the only thing he had left as an option. He began to walk home.

'You _are_ an idiot scientist.'


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: UPDATED CHAPTER (By the way, if there is anything that does not connect with later chapters, it is because I have not posted those updated chapters yet. Thank you.)**

This chapter is dedicated to: Krissy2lip (first reply)

**I DO NOT OWN GHOST HUNT… EVEN THOUGH THESE FBI AGENTS SEEM TO THINK I HAVE BEEN CLAIMING I DO…**

**~Chapter Two~**

It took ten minutes for Lin to arrive at the street Mai lived on. It had been five years since she had moved to this exact location. The memory of why she moved to her apartment was something that Mai did not like to remember too often. It was the reason for why she had never told her S.P.R. family about her situation.

"Um… thank you for driving me home…" Mai said, letting her eyes drift for the millionth time to the silent Chinese man who sat next to her in the driver's seat. The sound of the car's engine permeated the space around them. Mai let her eyes drift back to the street outside. She did not expect a response from her fellow co-worker, which is why when he replied, "don't worry about it Ms. Taniyama," she was a little shocked. She smiled and nodded and turned her attention to the cars' interior. It held so many memories of past cases. One such memory was an argument over whether or not she should be allowed to listen to music which typically was followed by a long, silent car ride seeing as how Naru would never allow her to win such an argument.

Even though the ride to a location was never exciting, Mai never wanted to be anywhere else. She felt as though she belonged there, with the large, irritatingly, poky equipment that she was stuffed into the car with, and her overly silent co-worker and boss. It was better than being stuck at her deathly silent apartment…alone.

As Lin pulled to the side of the road, Mai realized that she felt calmer and less stressed out then she had been at the office. The memory of the video seemed to be far off in the distance, as though she had left it behind when she had sat down in the passengers' seat of the car.

"Is this your apartment?" Lin was looking at a very old looking apartment with hesitant eyes. The apartment stood as though it would collapse at any moment. The cracked and peeling, dark blue window shades hung precariously on their old rusted hinges. The wood that the building had been built with was both worn and aged. The door that led to the apartment had a rusty, black metal grate blocking it off. Altogether, the apartment looked as though it would be home to its own horror story. Lin wondered at what the crime rate was in this part of Shibuya. Right as they had pulled to the side of the road, a lady, who Mai had come to know as 'cat lady' began to pour water down on the street below. Lin silently was glad that both Mai and he were not under the unknown liquid. He was quite certain that whatever was inside it would have a high likelihood of being hazardous to their health.

Mai looked over to see Lin staring with squinted eyes at the lady. He was obviously worried about the condition in which she lived. Mai smiled, knowing that even if Lin _was_… overly silent… he still cared about the people close to him. Mai definitely could see him as being an uncle in her makeshift family unit.

"Who is Dr. Anderson?" Mai asked leaving the conversation of her apartments hazard issues behind them. Lin's gaze was pulled away from 'cat lady' as the question caught his attention. She knew that Lin had to know who the man was. As for Naru, she was not completely sure if he knew Dr. Anderson that well. It seemed as though they had just been passing acquaintances. For a moment, Lin looked as though he was not going to answer, though seeing as he did not have any reason not to answer he decided to go for it.

"Dr. Anderson Clark is a friend of Naru's father, Martin Davis. That does not mean however that they always saw things eye to eye. Let's just say… psychology and the paranormal don't tend to mix very well. You would be surprised at what has happened in the past to people like us."

Mai sighed, why did Lin have to go about things in such a roundabout way? Sure, she was glad that Lin at least told her partly about Dr. Anderson. It had sparked her interest to learn that Naru's father had something to do with Dr. Anderson, but what she really wanted to know was what _Lin_ had to do with Dr. Anderson. She was not dumb. The walls of S.P.R. were not as thick as they should be.

She remembered the times in which she could clearly hear what Naru was saying to his parents about her. Though she never said anything about it seeing as it made no sense at time. She quickly became angered at the memory of Naru telling his parents about how horrible she was with English. She was not horrible… well, if she were more accurate with herself, she would have to say that she was not very good at it. She had difficulty with the pronunciation of the language, and she could not spell it for the life of her… but that did not mean that she was horrible. She could at least understand what they were saying. Well… again, that really depended on the words that they were using. Mai sighed; she wished that her lessons with Gene would go a little more fluently. Gene had decided that the best way to find out more information about his brother was for him to use Mai. That would however include her knowing more of the English language seeing as most of what he said about him was on the phone to his English speaking parents.

As for what Lin and Dr. Anderson were talking about, she was easily able to hear them. What Mai really wanted to know was what the job offer was and why Lin had turned it down. The fact that Naru had looked so…worried… caused Mai to wonder even more (she had peered out the kitchen door when the topic had interested her. The sound of the tea kettle going off had pulled her attention away though...)

Mai decided to push her luck. Maybe if she was clearer and more to the point, she would get an answer.

"What job offer did you turn down? How do YOU know Dr. Anderson?" Mai asked

Lin seemed to consider something for a moment. It was obvious to Mai that he was wondering how she had found out. She was not going to give him the answer to that question. All she wanted to know was his answer. Mai was highly disappointed when Lin avoided the question and said, "I should be going. Do you need help up to your apartment?"

Mai was sure that the disappointment that had crossed her face was highly visible. Lin did not bother to do anything about it though. She grabbed her items then made her way out of the car, trying to get everything in order. She strung her backpack on one shoulder and hung her jackets hood on her head without slipping her arms in. She grabbed a couple of her papers that she had not managed to put in her backpack and held her apartment keys with her lips seeing as her papers were taking up both of her hands. Finally getting her gear in order, Mai bowed to Lin as a parting good bye then said,

"Se….e yube tobowrwo bwen" (_see you tomorrow then)_

Lin nodded and waited for the car door to close shut close. Mai quickly ran towards the stairs that lead towards her room. He waited till she made her way into her apartment without being struck by any of the mysterious water that was still dripping down from the apartment wall and onto the curb below. He watched as she shut her apartment door before driving off.

Lin smiled. She was such an interesting girl. He was surprised that she had heard the conversation between him and Dr. Anderson, especially since they were speaking in English. He wondered how much of it she actually understood. He was aware of the fact that Mai had dismal grades in her English class. Mai's report card, due to the fact that Mai had no parents or family for that matter, had begun to arrive at S.P.R's office. Lin was sure that Mai had listed them as her guardians. He felt at least some form of pleasure in knowing that she trusted them that much. The grades were average… maybe a little below average. Her teachers had explained that her spelling was horrendous and that her pronunciation was even worse. From what he had just heard though, Mai was at least able to understand what was being said.

Lin laughed at the idea that any conversation that Noll had with his parents was easily heard by Mai. Noll had figured that he would at least have some privacy due to the fact that he believed that Mai was a complete moron with the English language.

As Lin turned the corner away from Mai's street, a thought occurred to him, he would have to tell Madoka that they were coming. He was sure that she would want to get as much proof as she could that Noll loved Mai. Another thought occurred to Lin, a thought that he had not actually expected to occur. He, himself, could not wait to see Madoka… he brushed the thought away. He had more pressing matters. Such as his charge, Oliver Davis, Now if only Noll could tell that he had feelings for his assistant… that would be a major change.

Mai rummaged through her bag trying to find the homework that she had stuffed in it during school. She wanted to make sure to bring it with her on the case. She figured that she would be able to finish all of it while on the plane ride to England.

'England…' Mai paused in her searching. She had never been out of Japan before. Her mother had talked about how she wanted to take her around the world to see all the different places. Mai had enthusiastically agreed saying that she wanted to take the trip before she turned eighteen.

Obviously, the trip would never happen… as Mai was nearly about to turn eighteen and her mom was no longer around.

Mai pushed the thought out of her mind and continued her search when she finally found what she was looking for with a sigh of relief.

Mai took her English homework and put it in her traveling bag. She groaned at the site of it. She hated English. Why did it have to be so difficult? The thought had occurred to her though, 'If I am going to England… where the main language is English… ah crap…' Mai sighed. Just because she could understand it did not mean that she could communicate it back. She could hear it now, 'Mai… why must you be such an idiot?' the sound of her boss's voice repeating 'Idiot' reverberated over and over again in her mind. Mai quickly and rather messily began to pull clothes from her closet and began to roughly shove it into her suitcase. "I'll just have to ask Gene to help me out while I am there. I'll have to double up on my lessons with him." She thought then realizing how much work it would be, she let out an angered groan.

It took her forever to pack her bags. Especially since she did not know what weather she should be expecting. It was winter time so Mai knew that she would have to pack warmly… the only problem was that she did not know how warm. Mai decided to bring a couple of long jeans and a few sweaters. The rest that she brought were short sleeved. She figured that wearing a jacket would keep her warm if she did manage to get cold.

Thoughts of the case drifted back into her mind when she finally finished packing. 'Do I really want to go?' Mai wondered. For some reason, she had the strange feeling that if she went there was a chance that she would not come back. Mai shook the feeling from her mind. 'Of course I want to go… and just because there is a chance that I might not come back does not mean that I won't… I'll just have to be extra careful…' Mai looked at her suit case then groaned when she realized that because she had packed her bag so angrily, it was now impossible to close it. Mai quickly took everything out then refolded them… this time making sure to do it more calmly and carefully.

Mai stood up after finishing her packing and began making a pot of tea for herself in her small kitchen. After a long day of making tea for her boss, she was glad that she could do something for herself. The pot began to boil making her quickly grab for the handle only to find that she forgot to get the pot holder. She pulled her hand back quickly putting her fingers up to her mouth. She turned the stove off and then ran hot water over the burn. It was red but at least the burn did not leave too much of a scar. Finally making sure that the burn had cooled enough, Mai reached for that forgotten pot holder then poured the water onto her tea leaves. The phone rang pulling her away from the steeping tea. Mai quickly picked up the phone only to recognize that it was Ayako's voice coming from the speaker.

"Mai, how have you been?" Mai could tell that Ayako had suspicious thoughts coursing through her mind.

"I'm fine, did Lin tell you about the trip? You should probably start packing. Knowing you, you might bring your whole wardrobe." Mai smiled hearing Ayako's annoyed reply.

"Why is it that everyone thinks that I'm into accessories? All I do is put on fingernails and makeup… oh… and make sure that my hair looks good… and then you can't forget the clothes… they have to look good with the makeup…" Ayako would have gone on for hours if Mai did not interrupt,

"Case in point..."

Mai could feel Ayako glare through the phone before getting back to the reason for why she had called in the first place. "So, I heard that Naru let you off early…"

Mai groaned. She knew where this was heading. She loved Ayako, but if she kept splurging on her, she would die of accessory overload.

"Ayako, please… why don't we just stay home tonight…?" Mai pouted.

"Ah, I see that you know where I'm going with this… well that's of no matter, anyways, whether you like it or not, I'm taking you shopping, I already know that you don't have the proper attire for England so don't try to say otherwise. Oh… by the way, I saw this perfect dress the other day… I'm sure that it would look wonderful on you… we will have to go and see if it is still there…and then… there was this really nice jewelry set…"

Mai knew that once Ayako had her mind set on shopping that there was no stopping her.

"I'll be over there in ten minutes. Make sure that you're ready…"

Before Mai could protest, Ayako hung up the phone. Mai sighed. She wondered where Ayako could possibly be if she was so close that it would only take ten minutes. Mai walked over to the tea that had not yet been drunk from and took a large sip. She sighed. It was definitely nice to drink one's own tea. She was saddened though by the thought that she would not be able to finish it. She poured the rest of the tea… though she really did not want to… down the drain and headed towards the door. She again pulled on the jacket that she had taken off and laid half hazard on the shoe rack she kept by her door. Grabbing her keys, Mai locked the door and went to wait for Ayako to arrive with her red car. The car was not over the top fancy but Mai definitely felt weird with her driving it down her street. Many of her neighbors would stop what they were doing and stare at the car. It was a bright cherry red. Mai wondered if Ayako just liked the color red or if she was color blind and could not tell how red it was.

'Cat Lady' would comment at how wasteful Ayako was to have a car such as 'that.' Mai had half the mind to tell the lady off but seeing as 'Cat Lady' had the tendency to pour the mystery water out her window every day, she did not want to cause any problems. Especially problems that would lead to said water being poured on her while she was on her way to work.

Mai watched as Ayako's car screeched its way around the corner of her street. Mai reminded herself to let Ayako know that she needed to slow down. The car came to an abrupt halt and the door opened. Mai heard music fill the air around her. Mai quickly sat herself in the passenger seat and prepared herself for the long and laborious task of shopping with Ayako. The faster they got out of there, the better chance Mai had of avoiding her antagonistic neighbor.

Naru had finally made it back to his place with a headache twice the size of an emperor's palace. He wondered what he was thinking when he decided to walk home instead of just wait for Lin to come back from Mai's apartment. It was a long walk. A walk that he decidedly figured he would never do again. If the distance was not bad enough, the crowd that accumulated along the way made it even worse.

He was not unaccustomed to the way women would look at him. It was honestly a very usual occurrence. Today however, was unusually rough. He never, in his life thought he would meet a girl so daring like _that_. To actually grab onto his arm as though she was walking with him… 'Wait… I have met someone like that… It's like a reincarnation of Ms. Hara… only problem is… that Ms. Hara is not dead…' Even though it was just like her, the fact that the multitude of girls who had seen this girl's actions became overly enraged…Let's just say that to get out of what he did without a scratch was a miracle.

'Gene would have taken it in stride. He would have been able to calmly appease each and every one of the girls.' Naru thought. Naru was not Gene though, and Gene was not there to help him escape from the predicament.

Walking up the steps to his rather large apartment, Naru got into said apartment much faster than the average day. He walked over to the walk in closet that was located next to his front door and hung up his black jacket. He then pulled out his already packed suitcase. Ever since Gene's body had been found, Naru had never un-packed his suit case. Something about unpacking it made him feel like he would be accepting the fact that Gene was gone. That his reason for 'being' would be gone. His main goal in coming to Japan was to find Gene. With that goal completed. He had a difficult time coping with the aftermath. At least he was able to come back to a place where people were still waiting for him. Naru was quite surprised that everyone was willing to come back and work for him, especially now that they knew everything that had happened with him and Gene. Naru wondered if Mai still was in contact with Gene. 'No, Gene moved on, there would be no reason for him to still be around.'

'Mai…' Naru thought off handed but then pushed the thought aside remembering at how his chance at telling her anything had been taken from him. Naru put a mental note aside to remind him to cause hell for Lin when he got back.

'How could things such as this always go so wrong?' it was not like he had not tried to tell Mai before, it's just that every time he did, something would always come up or happen to stop him. The last time he had tried to tell her was when he had come back from England after Gene had been found. Let's just say, trying to tell someone that you love them while on a haunted amusement park ride is not good timing.

Naru had resigned himself to acting as cold hearted as he normally did. His face was still impassive and he was quite sure that by now, Lin had given up on him actually telling Mai anything. In fact, Naru was quite sure that Lin was in the habit of thinking that Naru did not know his own feelings for Mai. Naru definitely knew, it was just that he was not accustomed to actually portraying them in the real world.

Naru walked to his bedroom and slowly laid himself back on his bed. His curtains were a dark color as well so the sun was not able to shine inside his room at all. It was only then that he realized that he had closed shop much earlier than he had before.

Naru looked at the alarm clock and noticed that the time only said 4:00pm. Usually, he would not leave until it was at least 10:00pm. He had left six hours early. Naru wondered if Lin would just stay at the office or if he would shut down the office for the day and come home to check if he was alright.

Naru remembered the first day that he and Gene had met Lin. They had decided to test the young man out by hiding from him. They thought that like all the other nannies that their parents had hired, Lin would not be able to find them. They were quite sure however that Lin could not possibly be a Nanny due to the fact that he was indeed a male. They were surprised when one of Lin's Shiki's appeared before them signaling to Lin where they were. Lin had climbed the tree that they were hiding in and began lecturing them on how unstable limbs of a tree were. Naru and Gene had tried many countless times to get rid of the nuisance called Lin. They had failed…

Lin had proceeded to explain to them that he was indeed, not a nanny, and that he was hired to make sure that they did not get into any trouble. Naru and Gene had a difficult time at understanding what the difference was between a nanny and whatever Lin was however, they soon learned never to call Lin a nanny. The repercussions were not exactly of the wanted sort.

Lin had been with the twins since they were six years of age. Lin at the time was around eighteen or nineteen. Naru really wondered if Lin would ever leave him alone. Like his brother did. When Gene had died and Naru had planned to go to Japan to find his body, he had not expected Lin to follow him. Naru had taken the first flight he could get out of England and made it to Japan alone, the way he had expected it to be, the way that he thought that the world wanted it to be. It was after three days of searching and realizing that he had actually not figured out where he would stay that Lin had found him. Unknowingly to Naru, Lin had placed one of his Shiki's on him so that when Naru left for Japan, the Shiki followed him.

Lin had again lectured Naru on the dangers of heading off to a different country on one's own, and then he began to tell Naru that Martin Davis, Naru's father, had given them the permission to open up a research facility in Japan while Naru was looking for his brothers' body.

Naru had never expected to stay in Japan long term, but when he met Mai, his plans began to change. Sure, he kept the cold personality that he had put on when his brother had died but he still felt a connection to Mai.

Mai had dug her way into Naru's life and now, he was not able to get her out of it.

The sound of the front door opening brought Naru's attention from his inner thoughts to the fact that Lin was now standing in front of him.

"So, you decided to close the office early?" Lin asked quietly.

Naru nodded then replied, "Go make sure that your bags are all packed. We will be heading back home to England… though that is figuratively… Make sure that you don't let it slip to my Mother and Father that we will be back."

Lin nodded and turned to leave but stopped, "I'm not the one who will tell your parents, you will." He then continued on his journey to pack. Naru was left brooding about whether he would be telling.

Annoyingly, he turned on his side and pulled the phone off its jack. He tried to tell himself that the only reason for why he was now calling his parents was because he decided on his own. The nagging feeling in his stomach though told him otherwise.

"Father… well… no, S.P.R will be coming to England…"

The group of S.P.R members piled their way out of the car that drove them to the airport.

"Now Mai, I know that this must be an exciting moment for you but…. We really should start to unpack"

Mai blushed at Takigawa's comment, and then quickly moved out of their way so that they could get out as well. Mai grabbed her bags only to have them pulled out of her hands by Naru.

Mai blushed even more until she heard Naru's reply, "While I carry your bags, you can go and help carry in some of the equipment. Make sure not to break anything."

Mai's face turned an angry red, "WHY YOU… IF YOU FEEL THAT WAY THEN WHY DON'T YOU CARRY THE EQUIPMENT, OH MIGHTY POWERFUL ONE?" Mai stomped away from Naru heading towards the back of the car to grab some of the equipment.

Yasuhara walked over to the dark clad teen that seemed to be pleased with him-self.

"Boss, how about next time you add… my dear precious… to the end of your comment, I'm sure you will get an even greater reaction from her if you did so." Naru glared at the college student. He was not sure whether to be pissed at the boy for even thinking of the idea or if he was pissed that the boy seemed observant enough to notice that Naru enjoyed seeing Mai's reactions.

Masako, who was intent on not carrying anything inside the airport, stood in the background glaring at the college student as well. 'Of course my Naru would not say that about Mai, how revolting of a thought that is.'

The team finally made their way to the planes departure area after having many annoying moments with the security searching through all of Ayako's hair products. They had left the security office with a highly annoyed Miko who stated that the security guards were insane if they thought her hair supplies was a danger to the passengers.

"Now why would I put dangerous chemicals into my hair…?" Ayako stormed out loud.

"Come on Ayako, we don't have time for your petty worry's… and of course they would be worried about your 'hair supplies' in order for it to manage your hair, it must have some radio reactive chemicals inside it. "

The resounding thump of a hand bag against the monk's head sent Mai and Yasuhara into a giggling fit. The other passengers around them all stared at the now bickering monk and Miko. A passing security guard seemed about to try and stop the escalating fight but thought otherwise when the fight began to calm down.

Naru ignored the fighting couple and continued his way uninhibited by any noise going on around him.

Mai caught up to Naru causing his attention to be drawn to her.

"So, how long will the flight be?" Mai asked as though she was a little child being told a secret.

"It will be around 16 hours." (Made up time, I don't know the actual flight time.)

Mai paused in her walking; she knew it would be long but for it to be that long…

"Um… I think I will go back now…" Mai began to turn around when Naru placed his hand on her shoulder sending a tingling sensation up her spine.

"Now Mai, I would like to know how you plan to do so when you don't have a ride back to your place."

"Um… um… I'll…I'll walk…" Mai stuttered out.

"Mai, we have driven through two prefectures just to get here, if you think you can walk all that way then be my guest, although, I am at liberty to tell you that walking won't be the only problem you will be faced with… Do you really think you will be able to get your bags back? By now, they are probably already placed onto the plane's cargo area. Are you really going to make everyone go through the trouble of pulling them off?" Naru knew that this was a stretch. In fact, he doubted if the bags had even made it to the plane yet. What he did know for a fact though was that Mai had never been on a plane before so she would not know the actual workings of one.

Naru was not sure as to why he was so adamant on her going when just the other day he was half way certain that she should be staying behind. He put it off on the fact that he knew how excited she was to be getting out of the country, he would not allow her to spoil it for herself.

The sounds of people making love whistles behind them pulled the two off of each other. Naru more dignified then Mai slowly pulled his arm away from her shoulder and back to his side continuing on the path he had been walking. Mai on the other hand blushed several different shades of red in which Masako jealously glared at the girl.

The flight attendant took all of their tickets wishing them a good flight. Mai, once on the plane became overly excited as the plane's engine roared its airy sound through the planes aisle. Naru was amazed at how quickly her emotions could change from that of worry to that of excitement.

Mai had finally gotten her bags back from Naru in which she had made sure to take out her homework and I-Pod. She had gotten the I-Pod, though much to her protest, from Ayako who said that it was not too expensive. Mai had almost fainted when she saw that the price tag was an entire week's paycheck.

Mai began to try and put her bag up in the console by herself but much to her embarrassment, Naru took over that job by lifting the bag out of her hands again and placing it into the console. she was thrown to anger when Naru ruined what could have been a nice moment by saying,

"We don't want to keep everyone waiting just so that you can get yourself situated. "

Naru's statement had been true though, Mai looked at the isle seeing that there were quite a few passengers trying to get by.

Mai glared at the boy but the glare did not work out so well seeing as how a faint blush had still been left on her face.

Mai sat down on the window side of the plane, intent on seeing the world from above the clouds.

It was only when she sat down that she realized how small the plane actually was. It was very much like an egg carton, created in a way so that passengers would be packed in tightly. (So, I have never actually been on an international plane before. I don't know how they actually look. The description is based on planes that one would fly on to get from one state to another.)

Naru, to Mai's disappointment, sat down right next to her while Lin sat on the aisle side of the seats. In all sense of the matter, Mai would have been excited to be sitting next to Naru if it was not for the fact that she had been planning on working on homework and she was quite certain that the Narcissist sitting next to her would pick on any mistake she made. Plus, with how tightly everyone was being packed in, she could easily feel his body heat right next to her.

Mai resolutely settled herself down in the chair while leaning towards the window to look down at the people on the ground signaling for what needed to be fixed and what needed to be placed where. Mai's face began to turn red with anger when she saw that the bags had indeed not been packed yet… she turned in her seat to yell at Naru but was quieted by the fact that the flight attendant had begun going over safety instructions.

It was when the flight attendant got to the part about how if they crashed into the water, they were to use their seats as floating devises, that Mai completely realized what it was she was about to do.

"Um… Naru… I need to get off…" Mai said with a wavering voice and nausea filling her body.

"Mai be reasonable…" Naru began opening his eyes that he had closed in order to try and drown out the annoying air sound that was going through the plane.

"DON'T TELL ME TO BE REASONABLE!" Mai growled out in a semi loud voice… "And don't tell me that they have already placed the bags on the plane… I can see what they are doing down there. They have not placed the bags in which means that it should not be too hard to get my bags…" Mai said resolutely set against the idea of flying through the air in a large metal object.

"Mai, look again, tell me how many bags you see down there… are you really able to tell which bag is yours, seeing as you can't, then tell me how it is you expect them to." Naru said with a quiet tone of voice. He really was getting annoyed at the way Mai was creeping out about the flight.

"But…Naru…we could crash… and if we crash… we could…we could die…" Mai said again with fear lacing her voice.

"Well then, if we die, then we can see the people we have lost now can't we?" Naru asked fully annoyed now. It was only after the silence lasted far past the normal five second reply that Naru realized what it was that he had said. He turned to look at Mai who was now facing the open window again.

'Crap… I really am an idiot' Naru sighed then closed his eyes again. He could not stand seeing Lin's accusatory glare. 'Yes, I know Lin that could have been handled better…'

The sound of the engine began to grow louder as the plane began to really start up. Naru noticed that Mai had begun to shake in her chair. He was wondering if she would even make it to when they made it into the air.

The seat belt light came on and once Naru finished buckling his seat belt he turned to see that Mai had not moved from her spot, pressed up against the window. He sighed resolutely and reached over to buckle the seat belt for her. 'She really is more trouble than anyone else I have met.'

Mai did not seem to be in the position to realize what Naru had just done. She was still staring at the ground that had begun to move under them.

By the time that the plane had picked up speed, Mai had tightly grabbed onto Naru's arm, closing her eyes so that she could not even begin to look at the ground below.

Naru looked at where Mai was holding and pressing up against him. He began to feel his body heat change at the touch of her body against his.

Closing his eyes so as to try and calm his racing heart Naru waited for Mai to let go of him on her own. It took five minutes after the plane calmed down for Mai to let go of his arm and look hesitantly out the window. Mai took in a deep breath then, surprising everyone in their general area, Mai began laughing happily.

Takigawa, Ayako, Yasuhara, and Lin, who were all in area's that would allow them to see what had gone on between the two, began laughing as well. Though Lin was chuckling more than laughing, plus, you could barely tell that he was doing such.

"So, I guess you like flying now don't you?" Takigawa asked with a huge smile planted on his face.

"WHY WOULDN'T I?" Mai laughed out looking at the clouds below her.

Lin just smiled at the dark clad teenager sitting stiffly next to him.

Maybe he did have a chance.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Updated Chapter**

** I do not own ghost hunt**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter**

**This chapter is dedicated to…**Dreamaker401 (helping with ideas) and Miko-Monk (first replier on chapter two)

**Chapter Three**

Oliver Davis, also known as Noll, stepped off the plane's boarding dock. He was closely followed by his tomato red assistant, Mai Taniyama, while a college student, by the name of Yasuhara was leaning over her shoulder making sure to give every detail of the embarrassing flight to the young girl in the most detailed way possible.

"I knew that you loved him Mai, but I never thought you would be so bold as to sleep on him for the entire flight. Did you realize how close you came to kissing him?" Yasuhara obviously was not holding back. The tomato red blush quickly turned much deeper giving homage to the fact that Mai was indeed a pro at discovering new shades of red.

"That's a lie…" Masako quickly moved her hand to cover her mouth. She hated Mai… well; hate would probably be too strong of a word to describe what she felt towards Mai. Jealousy would probably be a better term, though, Masako would never admit to being jealous. Jealousy was something that people of lower status felt towards those of higher status. Masako definitely did not see herself as being of lower class then Mai.

Yasuhara smiled a large grin turning his attention from Mai to Masako, "Was it…? Was it really…?"

Masako turned her nose upwards… "Of course it's a lie; Oliver would never do such a thing. Yes, Mai slept on his shoulder, but that does not mean that Oliver approved of it. Mai, as usual, is at fault."

The blush that covered Mai's face quickly turned from being the shade of embarrassment to being the shade of anger, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S MY FAULT? THE LAST TIME I CHECKED, BEING ASLEEP MEANT THAT I HAD NO CONTROL OVER MY ACTIONS, AND WHATS WITH YOU CALLING HIM OLIVER?"

"I do believe that_ is_ his name, and if I remember correctly, which of course I do, he himself explained that his name is Oliver Davis. The fact that you still call him Naru shows that you have no class and are childish." Masako turned away from the increasingly angry Mai and headed over to where Naru was talking on a cell phone.

Mai glared at the retreating girls form but then blushed when she saw the man who had been the topic of their conversation. Naru, or Oliver Davis as Masako had put it, was concentrating deeply on the phone conversation at hand. The flushed color that had covered Mai's face quickly lightened. 'Why is Naru so committed to work, you would think he would take the time to rest a little.' She was certain that she had seen a light hint of a blush cross the teenage boss's face when she had woken up to find her-self leaning against him.

Mai shook her head, "What am I thinking… Naru blush, that's impossible….' "I'm Crazy!"

"Yes Mai, it is very well known knowledge that you are indeed crazy, but, I do believe that we have a client waiting for us at the site."

Mai turned around quickly to see the face of her narcissistic boss standing behind her. The thought crossed her mind about how close they were standing but that thought was quickly replaced by the fact that what he had just said was _very_ rude…

"WHY YOU…"

Mai's anger grew quickly when she saw the rest of the team members, excluding Lin and Naru, giggling in the background.

Naru sidestepped Mai and began walking towards the exit. Mai sighed but brightened when she felt Monk place his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't let him get you down, anyways; we've got some ghosts to hunt!"

The sound of a bag hitting Monk's head quickly made Mai smile.

"Let go of her you '_old_ man'" Ayako's angered voice came.

"OLD MAN…? Who are you calling an 'old man' you '_old_ woman'" Monk replied back. The ensuing fight was blocked out by Yasuhara clasping onto Mai's other shoulder and replying.

"This close Mai" he held his thumb and forefinger close together… "You were this close to kissing him. Next time you will."

Yasuhara took quick steps to get away from Mai who was now sporting a color that was a mix between embarrassment and anger.

* * *

><p>Naru wondered how long he would have the headache that was now pounding at the back of his head.<p>

Of course, he had wondered when he was getting on the plane whether or not it was a smart idea to sit next to Mai. Now that he was off of the plane, he wished that he had listened to his previous worry. Naru could not help but remember what had happened on the plane. _(Memory of the plane in italics)_

_Once Mai had gotten over the initial excitement of being on the plane, she had begun to explore her surroundings. She had inspected the table that was placed in front of her. She did so by opening it and closing it repeatedly, then once she realized that it could pull out towards her, she began pushing it in and out repeatedly. It took Naru to place his hand on the tray to get her to stop. And when she finally had stopped, she had the audacity to glare at him. Of course, the glare did not last long seeing as he glared back and Naru's glares always trump that of Mai's._

_After her inspection of the tray, she began working on homework. Naru thought that homework should have been a quiet affair. It obviously was not due to the fact that the homework she was working on was English. Naru had to endure thirty minutes of sighing, grunting, and large arm movements, having to do with the fact that Mai had no clue as to what she was doing._

_By the end of thirty minutes, with the homework not completed, Mai had become increasingly distracted by the fact that the flight attendant was walking down the aisle asking for drink orders. (The homework, left incomplete, only one question answered and only because Naru had answered it for her)_

_'Miss…? What would you like to drink?'_

_Naru and Lin had already ordered their cups of water. Naru, ever since he had hired Mai would not drink tea unless it was made by Mai. Or at least, that's what he had made himself believe. He had wanted to forget the time that Masako had hijacked Mai's job and made him tea. Mai had gone on strike saying, 'There's no way I'm making you another cup of tea until you say thank you' Naru had vowed never to drink tea made by Masako again. He also vowed to try and forget it. That week had been the longest week ever._

_'Um… I'd like some…'_

_Mai was quickly interrupted by Naru,_

_'She would like some water as well.'_

_The flight attendant nodded and walked over to the next passenger. Naru had closed his eyes so he did not see the perturbed look that crossed Mai's face._

_'And what if I did not want water, what if I wanted soda, did that ever cross you mind?'_

_Naru opened his eyes to see Mai glaring at him,_

_'Now why would I allow my assistant to rot her brain with soda? Seeing as how horrible you are with English, I don't believe you need any more help with that.'_

_Mai gave up, obviously not wanting to fight. It crossed her mind to tell him that while she had difficulty answering the homework; it did not mean that she was horrible at English. She instead pulled out her I-pod, and stared out at the sky that was slowly fading to night. When the water came, she began slowly to sip on it._

_Naru had long since finished his cup of water. The sky outside the plane was now completely black. Lin, who had stayed quite for most of the trip pointed over to Naru's other side._

_Naru turned to see Mai nodding off to sleep her unfinished water still in her hand. She was dangerously close to dropping the cup._

_Naru slowly grabbed the cup from her hand and placed it on his tray. Mai had not noticed the disappearance of the cup and was still teetering very close to the window. Naru sighed, and grabbed Mai's homework which she had left on her tray. He pushed her tray up and locked it into place. He then grabbed the bag that she had brought on the plane with her. Un-zipping the bag he began to put her homework in it. A picture frame caught his attention. Pulling out the picture frame, Naru was able to see the contents of the frame. The picture showed Mai, who was around the age of five with her mom and dad. Naru had researched Mai's family after hearing from Mai that her mom and dad were no longer around. He found out that her dad had died when Mai turned six. The medical records that he was able to pull up due to the fact that he had friends in the right places stated that he had died of a brain aneurism. The medical records did not give a cause as to what caused the aneurism. Mai's mother survived until Mai turned eight. Medical records gave the cause of death as suicide. Though there were many who fought that diagnosis. It was of popular opinion that Mai's mother would never leave her daughter behind. Naru put the picture frame back into Mai's backpack and zipped it back up; he then sat back into his seat thinking deeply about the photograph he had just seen._

_He hesitated before doing what he did next; he reached over and grabbed Mai's shoulder. He pulled her so that her head would lean against his shoulder. Mai was so close to sleep that she did not notice the gesture. Naru stiffened a little, without realizing it, he happened to have a vision seep into him from touching Mai. It was not common for his power of__ psychometry to work when he did not mean for it to. The reading was not very clear. It was very difficult to see what was happening. There were dark shadow figures with the sound of a young child crying. Naru was pulled away from the reading when he felt Mai lean closer to him and sigh contentedly. When she relaxed and fell into a deeper sleep, Naru finally settled into his seat. He knew that Lin would want to know that he just performed psychometry without meaning to; however, he had no intention of telling him._

_Naru ignored the conspiratorial stares of Monk, Ayako, and Yasuhara. As for Masako, she was already asleep so Naru did not have to deal with the glares from her. Lin had closed his eyes and had graciously checked out from the scene._

_Naru closed his own eyes before Monk could start poking him and asking him questions. Naru was interested in finding out more about Mai's past. He was also interested in how much Mai knew. Mai was very good at hiding information about her own family life to her co-workers. It was not until the case at the Urado mansion that the team had learned anything of their part-time worker. Naru fell asleep thinking about his employee sleeping cozily on his shoulder. _

_The sound of the pilot explaining that they would be landing in the next fifteen minutes and Lin placing his hand on Naru's un-occupied shoulder woke Naru up. Naru glanced at his watch and realized that it was now close to midnight in England. He had not expected to sleep as long as he had. The fact that Mai was still asleep left little to be amazed at seeing as she did tend to sleep quite a bit. He wondered though, if she would be able to sleep later once they arrived at the psychiatric facility._

_Naru became highly aware of the fact that Masako was glaring at Mai and maybe a little at him. Slowly, Naru watched as Mai began to open her eyes. When she realized where she was, she shot up quickly almost hitting Naru's head in the process._

_"Wow, Mai, never knew that you would try and kiss Naru..."_

_Yasuhara was doing what he did best, twisting situations into being much more than they really were._

_"K…k…kiss…?"_

_Mai's face turned tomato red. Naru could see that she was trying to process how she had come close to kissing Naru along with the fact of, how she had managed to be leaning against Naru._

_"I see that your finally awake, you need to make sure that you have everything packed up. We will be landing soon."_

_Naru said in his very even toned voice._

_Mai's eyes were still open wide from the shock of being so close to Naru but she was able to at least look around her and gather whatever belongings she had out._

_The plane landed with Mai gripping tightly onto Naru's arm as she had done when they were taking off. She was obviously scared much more by the landing then the actual take off. Naru could understand why with all of the jolts that the plane made._

_The team was the last to make their way off the plane, with Naru in the lead and the rest, including a highly blushing Mai following in his trail. (Look at first paragraph in this chapter and you will realize that this part leads to there.)_

(End flashback)

Naru sighed; he could hear Yasuhara in the background causing havoc about the plane incident. He hoped that Mai would believe that she had leaned against him; it would make things a lot less difficult.

Naru pulled out his phone. He would have to call Anderson Clark to see if their ride had arrived yet.

The phone call was short. It turned out that Anderson Clark could not make it away from his office so he sent his assistant instead.

Naru had turned to see that Mai had calmed down and was not blushing as much anymore. Apparently, the topic of conversation had moved away from her and onto much more trivial means of conversation.

Naru walked over to his assistant hiding a grin when she unknowingly said out loud, 'I'm CRAZY!' Of course, Naru was a pro at holding back his feelings seeing as the grin never made it to his face.

"Yes Mai, it is very well known knowledge that you are indeed crazy, but, I do believe that we have a client waiting for us at the site."

Naru watched as Mai quickly turned to see him standing behind her.

'WHY YOU…!"

The blush on Mai's face quickly gave Naru all the information he needed to know that she was angry at him. The sounds of the rest of the team members giggling in the background caught his ears as well.

Letting out a sigh, Naru turned to where Lin was standing, still stoic as ever. Naru left the sound of the giggling buffoons behind him, making sure to give out his order.

"Let's go, our ride is waiting for us outside and we still have to get our bags from baggage claim." Lin kept stride with him but the rest lagged behind. Naru could hear that the Monk and Miko had begun their tirade again.

"Naru, wait up," Mai called out.

Naru did not slow down but let a minuscule smile reach the sides of his mouth.

Claiming their bags went by much faster than usual. The only one who had trouble grabbing her bags was Mai. By the end of it, Monk and Yasuhara had been the ones to grab the bags for her.

Naru had picked up his phone again when it had begun to ring.

He quickly hung up once whoever was at the other end had finished what they were saying.

"John has just boarded his plane; he will be here in the morning" Naru placed his phone back in his black pants pocket.

"Oh, I was wondering about that. He said that he was in Australia right but that he would be coming later?" Mai asked.

"Yes Mai, Now let's go." Naru again turned away from the group and begun walking without pausing to wait for them.

Before Mai could say anything, Monk placed his hand on her shoulder, this time dodging the swing of Ayako's purse.

"Don't worry about it. Even if Naru does not wait, you still have us." The smile that had crossed Monk's face quickly made Mai smile.

"Thanks Monk." She said. And then she headed off towards Naru when the sound of Ayako's purse hitting Monk finally made its debut, quickly followed by another.

"HEY, WHAT WAS THAT FOR YOU OLD GRANNY?" Monk asked annoyed,

"The first is for touching Mai, the second is for dodging my purse you old man!"

Mai was glad that she was a part of the S.P.R team. She wondered what she would ever do without them.

Mai stared at the buildings as they passed by them with an open mouth. The buildings were lit with the lights of the streets. The lights gave a warm golden glow to the surrounding architecture. Mai felt it was a very romantic setting. Mai wondered if they would be able to see the buildings during the day time. She really hoped so. It would be great if they could at least take a day off of the case to see the sites.

Mai stared at the back of the drivers head. Very loud music was playing throughout the car, much to the annoyance of Naru. Mai smiled realizing that Naru must despise the type of music that was playing.

Yasuhara was singing to the song in a very loud voice while the driver, Peter Grayson, sang along with him.

When the group had met Peter at the airport pickup lane, the first thing that came to Mai's mind was colorful. The man's hair hung down to his shoulders and was dyed a bright blue. Mai had hoped that his clothes would have been at least a bit normal but she was left with no hope for that case as well. His shirt was tie-dyed and his jeans were bright yellow. Mai was very surprised that this man worked with Anderson Clark.

The group walked up to the boisterous looking man, Ayako, and Takigawa were both holding back laughter, while Naru and Lin, still as calm faced as ever, walked to the back of the car, clearly trying their best to hold in any feelings of annoyance that they might have towards the boisterous man. Masako stayed as far back from the man, obviously feeling that she was much too important to be seen with his sort. Before Mai could go and greet the man, Yasuhara walked over to him with much splendor.

"Ah, my brother, so great to see you… how has your wife been?"

The very boisterous man played along with him.

"My brother so long it has been since I have last glanced upon your face. My wife is well and so is Jr."

"If you guys are done fooling around, I would appreciate it if you would open the trunk." Naru's cool composed expression had disappeared quickly. He was obviously annoyed.

Mai placed her hand over her mouth. It was unusual for Yasuhara to find someone who played along with his jokes.

The man, who had been in the midst of a hugging match with Yasuhara pulled away with a sheepish look.

"Ah, please forgive me." The man clicked the car's clicker to unlock the door, "I just came from a party which is the reason for my attire."

Mai wondered what type of party the man went to, and what type of friends he could have for the attire to look the way it did.

The rest of the team members placed their luggage into the car with their drivers help.

The man's eyes turned to look at the group, landing directly on Mai. He quickly walked by Lin and over to Mai lifting up her free hand and kissing it gently.

"I don't believe I have ever met anyone as beautiful as you before. If I may, I would be honored to put your luggage into the car for you."

Before Mai could reply anything, Naru quickly grabbed Mai's luggage from her.

"Mr. Grayson, I would like to be making it to the psychiatric facility before daylight. So, if you please, could we quickly get going?"

Mai wondered how Naru could possibly know the man's name seeing as he had not said it yet. She figured that it was probably due to one of the phone calls that he had received.

Mr. Grayson let Mai's hand fall to her side, looking much put off at the fact that he would not be taking Mai's luggage for her.

"Right away then," Mr. Grayson said, though then pausing before turning back to the group, "By the way, it would probably be a good idea if I introduced myself; my name is Peter Grayson, the assistant to Anderson Clark. I'm very pleased to meet Oliver Davis and his coworkers."

Mai was taken out of her flashback by the sound of the music being turned down.

"If you all look to your right, you will see the entrance to the psychiatric facility…"

Mai followed where Peter Grayson had directed their attention. Her mouth opening wide when she saw the tall white stoned building that stood before them. The architecture was much like the Greek buildings that she studied in here history classes.

"…Welcome to England's Association of Psychology's main facility."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N:

This chapter is dedicated to: Ayjah for being the first replier(ch3) and to thearistocrat for making me happy with their reply.

**WARNING!**

**I DO NOT OWN GHOST HUNT... DON'T KNOW WHY YOU WOULD THINK I WOULD.**

Enjoy,

p.s. I have not completely checked this over yet so there will probably be mistakes. If I add anything to this chapter later on, I will let you know in chapter five. this chapter is not as long as I would usually make it as well

thanks for reading. :D

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

A cold breeze blew over the psychiatric facility, sending a cold chill through Mai's spine. The car had finally been unloaded, leaving cause for celebration throughout the S.P.R. team.

"Man, am I beat." Takigawa stretched his arms out wide, hitting Ayako in the process.

"Monk!" Ayako cried out, "watch where you throw your arms." She finished her statement with a swing of her purse.

Mai jumped a little at the sound of the thump.

"Dang! Woman… I can't help it if my arms are so long." Takigawa groaned while rubbing the side of his head.

"that's besides the point," Ayako said while loading her purse back onto the crook of her arm, "anyways, how is it that you can be tired when you slept quite a bit while on the plane?"

"Its called work, you should try it sometime." Takigawa realized where the purse that had just been put back in place was about to meet so he quickly dodged the offending purse and quickly caught up to where Mai was walking.

Peter, who had left a few moments ago, returned quickly with Dr. Anderson in toe.

"I am so glad that you were able to make it." Dr. Anderson reached his hand out towards Naru as though he was expecting a hand shake.

Ayako had given up on trying to completely obliterate the Monk with her purse and smirked at the idea of Naru shaking someone's hand.

Realizing that Naru was not in the mood for such trivial actions, Yasuhara stood up to the plate,

"Yes, it is so nice to see you. If I may ask, where did you find that fine hat of yours, if I do say so myself, it's a mighty fine hat."

Ayako, Takigawa, and Mai were all trying there best not to laugh at the exuberant handshake that Yasuhara was giving the quite frazzled Dr. Anderson.

Once Dr. Anderson was able to remove his hand from Yasuhara's clasp (thoroughly trying his best to get the blood back into it) and had explained as to where he had bought his 'mighty fine hat,' he began to show the team into the facility.

Mai could not help but shudder. Once the team had driven closer to the facility she realized how cold and foreboding it really seemed to be. What she had thought to be a magnificent white stone building was in reality a very rundown building. It was easy to see that the building had been built many many years ago seeing as the weather had greatly affected it. Mai paused in following the team to look at a seemingly new bronze plaque that was hung on the right side of the door.

_**'Carlton Williams Facility: **_

_**Home of Psychiatric Study and rehabilitation'**_

Something about the old bronze sign caused Mai to pause and wonder. The sign felt wrong, as though there was more to it then what was written in bold letters.

"Mai, stop wondering about, we've got work to do."

Mai glared at the back of her retreating boss. How was it that very close to one in the morning, Naru could be the same as always...

Mai sighed but left the bronze sign, all thoughts of worry left behind.

Mai slowed down after she had caught up to the group. It was cold inside the facility. She figured that it would be due to the fact that not only was the place made out of stone pillars but also, the floor was stone tile. It was deathly quite in the hall that they were walking down making it possible for the sounds of the groups footsteps to be heard echoing down the corridor.

"Clip Clop... Clip Clop... Clip Clop goes the clock..." (sort of half sung)

Mai turned towards her left to see a woman with a long white gown standing in front of a door. Mai was no where's near able to tell how old the woman really was. She was short in stature and was very thin,The woman's skin was very pale, as though she had not seen the sun in many years. Her dark brown eyes seemed vacant and her fingernails were bitten down to the quick. She had long dark black hair hanging down to her rib area. She was playing with a strand of her hair, twisting it into a long thick black strand. She continued to twist it until it started to curl into loops. What caught Mai's attention the most was that the woman wore no shoes. Her feet were very rough looking, as though she had constantly walked on pavement with no shoes on. All together, Mai would say that the woman looked very close to the edge of losing it all together.

"Allison, you need to go back to your room. Its late." Dr. Anderson walked over to the woman and gently grasped onto her upper arm.

"a clock goes clip clop clip clop" Allison replied in a sing-song voice

"Sure it does... now go on,"

Dr. Anderson turned her around and opened the door for her. She resisted and turned her head back towards the gang, her eyes swimming around before landing directly on Mai.

"Your time is almost up. The clock will no longer sound... clip clop clip clop...stop... no more time, your time is up."

As though pleased with herself, the woman named Allison began to laugh then quickly turned and headed through the door that Dr. Anderson held open for her. He shut it gently turning a key in the lock.

"I apologize for that. We have a strict rule that all doors to the patients rooms shall remain closed. Must have been one of our new employees who left it open. Good thing Allison did not leave." Dr. Anderson walked back over to the group. The sound of his shoes still echoing across the floor.

Mai felt the rest of the group's stare on her.

"Man! we have been here for less then fifteen minutes and you've already found yourself receiving warnings." Takigawa crossed his arms as though he was very dissatisfied.

"I would not take what Allison says to seriously, she has been one of our long term patience for many years now. I believe that she's actually been here since she was ten." Dr. Anderson seemed as though he was pondering something important.

"TEN! how old is she now?" Mai now felt completely bad for the woman.

"Ah, don't be fooled by her appearance, she's only twenty-three."

Mai's eyes opened up wide. Of coarse she was not expecting the woman to be twenty-three but, for Dr. Anderson to say that thirteen years was not a long time... Mai wondered what a long time was considered in his view point.

Before Mai could ask, Naru interrupted her

"whether or not Allison's warning was correct, from this moment on, we will all be in pairs. Anyone who disobeys," Naru turned his eyes towards Mai, "will be kicked off the case. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes..." the group, (mainly Yasuhara, Monk, Ayako, and Mai) groaned out.

Masako nodded her head, her hand still up towards her mouth. She marveled at the possibility that she could end up pared up with Naru. In fact, she hoped that she would be pared with him.

'this time... this time for sure...' Masako whispered under her breath.

The group continued on their way, soon leaving a very tired Peter behind. It turned out that the clothes that he had been wearing while at the airport was his sleeping clothes. Mai wondered what Peter's clothes would look like in the daytime.

"Dr. Anderson, could you tell us about this facility?" Mai was hesitant in asking. She herself was not exactly tired yet. She was not sure though that the rest would be of the same sentiments.

"Do you mean about the ghost activity? Or do you mean in general?"

Dr. Anderson looked very pleased that Mai was asking him questions. He seemed like a person who would just love to explain the history of psychology to anyone who would listen.

"Well, I guess I mean in general" Mai was now wondering how long it would take for the doctor. to explain everything.

"hmm... well then, lets see, where should I start... ah, I guess there is better then anywhere else..."

Mai heard Naru let out a large sigh. It was now obvious to Mai that he already knew the history of the psychology facility. Mai knew though that he would allow Dr. Anderson to give his explanation to Mai. You never knew if you would learn some important detail from the client that you never knew before.

"well, as you saw from the bronze plaque in front of our door, this facility is not called the E.A.P. It just happens to be the main branch of the E.A.P... The facility is actually named after the psychologist who began the E.A.P. Carlton Williams came to England back in the eighteen hundreds. He met up with Edward Milton, the dean of medicine at that time. Both Carton and Edward were very interested in the study of human psychology. You see, psychology was not exactly considered a science at that time. They were very interested in trying to push it towards being considered part of science..."

suddenly the group stopped in front of a large painting, "This would be Carlton Williams back in his younger days."

Dr. Anderson walked forwards a little to come across a much smaller painting.

"And this, would be Edward Milton."

Mai looked at the two paintings and again felt a shiver run down her spine. The two paintings were very dark in the color scheme. Mai would have hoped that they would have at least had some bit of color in them but of coarse they did not. What Mai did noticed though, was that While Edward Milton smiled in his frame, Carton Williams looked to be a very unpleasant man.

Mai took a step behind Takigawa's large frame, unaware that Naru was watching her every movement.

Suddenly, Dr. Anderson let out a large yawn.

"well guys, its now one in the morning so, I will lead you to your rooms and head back to bed. I will have a very long day tomorrow. I have visitors who will be coming over and I need as much strength as possible to entertain them."

"You have visitors coming?"

Naru seemed less then pleased.

"Ah, yes, I forgot to mention it. Tomorrow, the great great...great... ah, I'm never able to remember how many greats but anyways, the nephew of Carlton Williams will be coming to stay"

Dr. Anderson looked as though he could not tell how annoyed Naru really was.

"Well then, I expect you to keep him under check and order. I don't want him messing with our investigation. Do you understand?"

Naru's arms were stuck crossed to his chest.

"Yes... very well then..."

The group finally arrived in front of a large oak door. Dr. Anderson pushed it open to revel a large room with many wall plugs.

"This will be your base. It has many wall plugs that you can plug your computers into. And, as you can see on the other side of the room, a great view to the outside. We brought in chairs and couches for you so hopefully they will be to your liking."

Dr. Anderson led them to a room that was right next to the base.

"Over here we have one of the bedrooms. It has a door that connects to your base. I thought that was quite a great feature. Its got two double beds and one single bed. I'm afraid that some of you might have to pair up."

again Dr. Anderson led them to another room which was located across the hall from the base,

"This will be the woman's room. Since there are only three of you, you will each have your own bed. They are all single sized."

Dr. Anderson turned towards Naru, "Now, you asked for a third room. I was not exactly sure what you would be doing with it but its got a king sized bed and all the fixtures that you asked for."

Naru nodded, "like you, we will be having some visitors tomorrow. Thank you for your help."

Naru walked away from Dr. Anderson, not even waiting for his reply.

Mai gave a small bow then ran after Naru lecturing him on not being rude to their clients.

Dr. Anderson bid farewell to those of S.P.R. Who still lagged behind.

"When your other friend... John Brown was it... anyways, when he arrives, I will have one of my assistants lead him in and to your rooms."

Lin nodded then watched as Dr. Anderson headed down the hall to turn to his right.

Naru sighed then walked over to the base room where Naru was busy writing inside his pad and walking around taking inventory while Mai was following him around yelling at him.

Lin sighed, knowing that this would be a long case.

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><p><strong>AN: So, what do you think? Do you like the setting...**

**Now, there are quite a few questions I'd like you to think about...**

**what is the relationship between Carlton Williams and Edward Milton?**

**Why is Dr. Anderson running the psychiatric facility and not Carlton Williams nephew.**

**Who will the third bedroom belong too?**

**...and last but not least...**

**what will happen to SPR on this case?**


	5. Chapter 5

A/N:

This chapter is dedicated to: thearistocrat and everyone else who replied to chapter four.

**I DO NOT OWN GHOST HUNT!**

**Chapter Five**

_Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock…._

Mai listened as the clocks hand made its way around the clocks face. The sound of its ticking reverberated through the dark, quiet room. Mai clenched her eyes shut as tightly as she could. How was it that even though it was three o' clock in the morning, she was not able to fall asleep. Mai listened as the sound of Ayako's snore sounded through the girls bedroom. Mai let out a sigh as she was soon able to hear the sound of Lin's typing fingers coming from the room across the hall… she was now starting to understand just how quiet it actually was.

Mai slowly sat up in her bed making sure not to startle the young medium who slept next to her. Earlier, Mai and Masako had had a long argument over who would be sleeping on the floor. Monk had quickly made and entrance causing the two young women to scream and throw a pillow at said Monk. After all the commotion had ended, Masako had defiantly placed many pillows running down the middle of the bed. According to her logic, Mai would not be allowed to cross the line. In the end, Masako had moved all over the bed, hands and legs flying everywhere. Mai stood from the bed allowing Masako's arm to fall gently off of Mai's torso. Mai stood still as Masako let in a deep breath then let it out and continued on sleeping.

Mai creped out of her room towards the light that came from the base. The light was shining through the crack in the door allowing a vertical line of light to shine upon Mai's small stature. She peered through the cracked open door to look in. She had to wait for her eyes to adjust fully to the bright light that met her.

Lin was typing away at his computer as she had previously thought, Mai turned her head to see that Naru was spread out upon the couch reading some important looking documents. Mai blushed at seeing Naru laying down in such a way. One leg was bent while the other lay out flat. His head which she could barely see was propped up by the arm rest. Mai wondered what it was that he was reading. Earlier, before the rest of the SPR members had headed off to bed, Dr. Anderson Clark had given Naru some papers accounting for the history of the strange happenings. Judging by the thickness of the papers, Mai had a feeling that a lot of strange happenings had indeed occurred.

Mai shifted her weight from one foot to the next only to catch her breath when the floor boards creaked. Mai continued to hold her breath as she watched Naru slowly peer up from behind his papers. She felt as though she was frozen to the floor as she watched, Naru put his papers down and stand very carefully up from the couch. Naru slowly walked over to the door and opened it allowing the rest of the light to fall upon her. Mai, who had finally gained control of her feet took a single step back, Naru's shadow falling upon her small figure.

"Mai… I stated earlier that no one was allowed to move around this facility alone."

Mai swallowed hard, in all honesty, she had completely forgotten that minor detail. It was not that she had purposefully ignored it.

"Um.. Well… The base is just across from my room, I felt no need to wake Ayako or Masako up." Mai knew that her voice betrayed her. It always did. Naru was no idiot. He could tell when she was lying to him no matter what the lie was. Neither she or Naru realized that Lin had stopped typing. Mai could both feel and hear her heart beat pounding a mile a minute. She wondered if Naru could hear it too.

Instead of commenting further, Naru moved sideways to allow her entrance.

"If you are not going to go to sleep, make sure that you are of use while your in here." Naru handed her a large stack of papers inside of a vanilla envelope.

Mai slowly let herself in wondering grudgingly to herself where Naru had managed to stash said papers so that he had easy access to them.

Mai groaned as she examined the thickness of the envelope he had handed her.

"I want you to examine each and every one of those papers. The papers are of the patients at this hospital. If you see anything out of the ordinary, make a note of it."

"Naru, are you sure we are allowed to look through these? Isn't there some law against this?"

Naru just rose a single eyebrow then turned away from her.

"Mai, the papers you are looking at are about the past history of this facility and its patients. The people in those reports are long dead. But, that's besides the point. Due to my profession, and high standings in the academic world, I have been given access to many different sorts of paper work."

The skin between Mai's eyebrows pinched at hearing the condescending tone that Naru was using. He was definitely in true Narcissistic form.

"Besides, I highly doubt that you would go and spout all the medical history inside those papers to people outside of this facility… or is my trust in you poorly placed?"

Mai blushed an angry red. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of a reply, she quickly walked over to the table top that sat in the far corner of the room. She slammed the envelope onto the table before swiftly sitting down and busying her-self with ignoring the dark clad figure of Oliver Davis staring at her from the door way.

As the hour slowly ticked by, Mai began to wonder what was taking John so long. As long as there was no delay in his flight, his plane should have already landed an hour ago. Mai turned to look at where Lin was sitting still typing away at his computer. What had taken Mai by surprise was that Naru had fallen asleep while reading his papers. Mai let out a large sigh then stood up from her chair. In all honesty, she had gotten no where with the papers. She wondered why it was that Naru thought that she would be able to look through these papers. They were all written in English, which, of coarse meant that no matter how well she could understand spoken English (even the spoken English could give her some trouble) she could not understand what it was that the papers were saying. Suddenly a thought popped into her head….

"THAT JERK!" Mai slightly yelled out. Lin paused in his typing only for a moment but then continued on typing, a small smile crossing his face… She had finally figured out why Naru knew that she would not spill any information that was written on the forms. She could not understand it.

Mai looked back at the papers, a large tension headache starting to form in the back of her head. 'What in the world does he expect me to gain from these then?' Mai rubbed her head as the thought made its way through her head.

She sat back down and looked at the first paper that lay on the top of the stack. She had, for the past twenty minutes been staring at the dim-lighted eyes wondering what the girl was like. She had imagined meeting the girl but had strangely only come back with a strange quieter version of her-self. Now that she really studied the girl in the picture, she began to realize that the girl actually seemed to have no life in her at all. It was as though the girl in the picture was nothing less then a mannequin. The photo was in faded black and white so Mai was not able to tell what color the girls eyes were, nor was she able to tell what color her hair was. The clothes that she was wearing were very baggy though. Mai wondered why the psychiatry wardens would not have provided better fitting clothes for their patients.

Mai looked back at the words that were scrawled across the page. She could feel a headache begin to rage its way through her head at the smallest attempt to understand the words. Mai sighed and placed the page aside and looked at the next picture. It was only by the sixth photograph that Mai began to notice something about the pictures. Mai quickly picked up the photographs that she had already looked through, starting with the girl with dim lighted eyes.

Standing up quickly Mai walked over to where Lin was still typing away at the computer.

"Lin, can I ask you a question?"

Lin stopped his typing and turned to look at the very tired looking girl.

"Yes."

"do you have any idea what this might be?"

Lin looked at the photo's that Mai was pointing at. In every photo she showed him besides the one with the dim eyed girl, there was a splotch of what looked like light. Lin would have put it off as being caused poorly processed film if it were not for the fact that in each photograph, the light seemed to move spots.

Lin turned back to his computer and began typing again. Mai wondered if he was ignoring her question until he pulled up a screen from the Internet. Mai's eyes widened as the same image that she saw on each of the photo's was shown on the computer screen.

"Naru…" Lin stood up and walked over to the sleeping teen.

Naru opened his eyes rather abruptly as though he had not been sleeping in the first place.

"what is it?"

"Mai seems to have found something quite interesting."

Naru quickly stood up and walked over to where Mai was still standing with the photographs laying on Lin's desk. Naru sat down at the computer and read what was on the screen. He then picked up the photo's one by one and compared them to the ones on the screen. When he got to the one that Mai had stopped at, he commented.

"It seems that the transference light does not show up after 1876."

"Except for this one…" Lin pointed at the very fist picture that Mai had looked at. Indeed, the girl was a patient in the facility before 1876. The only difference was that her photo did not have any of the 'transference light'

"Transference Light?" Mai questioned.

"Transference Light is what is produced when a certain phenomena occurs. Its very rare and has only been documented two other times." Lin explained.

"Wait, but, you still have not explained what it is." Mai said. The headache that had been a nagging pain had begun to grow much, much, stronger.

"Its caused when there is a discrepancy in time. Or in other words, something that is not supposed to be there in that time frame is there."

"Do you mean something like time travel?" Mai asked with wide eyes.

"Don't be ridiculous. There is no such thing as time traveling." Naru placed the pictures back down onto the desk before standing up and walking over to the window.

"But you just said that there was something there in the photo that was not supposed to be there." Mai said completely confused and exhausted. She wished the headache would go away.

"Exactly. And I also said that there is no such thing as time travel Mai. You can't change what happened in the past, nor can you change what will happen in the future. What is in that photo could be a multitude of things. But what ever it is, its not a physical being. From the research that has been gathered, it could be anything from a ghost to a demon."

Mai rubbed the sides of her head with the tips of her fingers… a new thought crossed her mind. A thought that she did not exactly understand as to where it came from.

"Could it be a projection of someone? Or in other words, someone who is astro projecting themselves?"

"There has not been a case such as that Mai…"

Mai was startled by the fact that Naru seemed to be very upset about something, she decided to push it to the back of her extremely aching mind.

"Well then, what about the first picture?" Mai did not know what the girl's name was seeing as the information seemed to have been missing from the papers itself. Though, even if it did have the name on it Mai highly doubted that she would be able to read the name.

"it could be that the subject did not arrive in the time frame that this picture was taken or it could be…"

but before Naru could complete his explanation, the lights to the facility turned off leaving Lin, Naru and Mai in complete darkness. The backup power that had been set up turned on for the security cameras.

"Mai, stay where you are and don't look at the screens." Naru's voice was more commanding then what Mai had ever heard him sound like before.

Mai could see Naru and Lin's shadowed figures in the dim salt and peppered light of the TV screens. The headache that had formed inside her head was now more painful then what she could take. Mai collapsed to the floor with her fists digging into the sides of her head and eyes clenched.

As sudden as the lights had turned out, a sound of fingernails running down a chalkboard suddenly began to pulsate its way through the psychiatric ward. Mai did not have time to hear the worst of it though as a very strong set of hands placed themselves over Mai's ears. Mai let out a small scream and tried to kick out at the attacker only to realize quickly that the hands were Naru's.

Mai had opened her eyes and was able to see the shadowed details of Naru's serious face looking back at her. She watched as Naru's lips moved, forming words that she was not able to hear. She was able to read what he was saying… "It will be over soon"

Mai clenched her eyes shut again wishing that the chaos would end.

Mai felt as the hands that had been covering her ears were slowly removed. After listening to a moment of silence, Mai opened her eyes to realize that the lights had turned back on.

Before Mai, Naru, or Lin could make a sound, the door to the base burst open letting in a very flustered John Brown followed the rest of SPR.

"Is everyone alright?"

A/N: so, here is chapter five. I will post chapter Six as quickly as possibly.

If you are still reading this, I want to thank you very much and apologize for the delay.

Sorry for the shortness of this chapter.


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